Superior Hiking Trail marks 40 years with Two Harbors celebration

The Superior Hiking Trail marked its 40th anniversary with a North Shore celebration built around a simple idea: hit the trail, then meet up with the people who keep it alive. In Two Harbors, Castle Danger Brewery hosted one of four birthday parties held Saturday, June 6, alongside gatherings in Grand Marais, Tofte and Duluth.

The Superior Hiking Trail Association framed the anniversary as its “Ultimate Birthday Celebration,” inviting hikers to register for a preferred section of trail to “hike, run, or saunter.” The timing lined up with National Trails Day, which American Hiking Society set for the first Saturday in June. In 2026, that fell on June 6.

The trail’s 40-year milestone also underscored how much of a community project it has been from the start. The Superior Hiking Trail Association was established in 1986, the same year the trail began, and trail-history accounts note that it started with no trail at all. Today, official materials describe a 300-plus-mile route along Lake Superior’s North Shore, stretching from the Minnesota-Wisconsin border near Duluth to the Canadian border area and climbing and dropping across roughly 80,000 feet of elevation change.

Executive Director Lisa Luukkala said the anniversary is about honoring the early trail builders and sharing stories from the broader trail community. That history matters in Lake County, where the trail functions as both public infrastructure and a tourism draw for trail towns and businesses tied to outdoor travel. The Two Harbors celebration at Castle Danger Brewery put that connection in plain view, while Bluefin Bay on Lake Superior in Tofte hosted another party just up the shore.

The association is also pushing the Hike 40 Challenge, which asks people to complete 40 Trail miles during calendar year 2026. Participants can do it by hiking, walking, running, backpacking or snowshoeing, and the challenge includes historically significant sections of the trail. Anniversary merchandise and podcast storytelling are part of the campaign as well.

The trail association’s retrospective says the first guide to the Superior Hiking Trail helped turn the footpath into a destination and drew national attention. Forty years later, the route still depends on volunteers, still drives visits to North Shore communities, and still gives Lake County a shared asset worth celebrating and maintaining.